Admissions

Welcome to St Aidan’s Catholic Academy

We are committed to the care and success of every boy in a way that is rooted in the values of the gospel. We expect the boys to set themselves high standards in their work, their extra-curricular activities and their relationships with others. We encourage them to do so and support them so that they will achieve. We will work with you to develop your child’s gifts, whatever they may be, so that he is well prepared to take a place in the adult world confidently.

St Aidan’s has an outstanding reputation for academic achievement based on a consistent record of excellent examination results (60% 9-5 in English and Maths in the 2018 GCSE Results). We nurture individual students and encourage and assist each one to reach their full potential. Our personalised curriculum offers a vast range of learning opportunities.

Extracurricular and enrichment programmes are extensive. These complement and extend the academic curriculum and include local and international projects, charity work and a wide range of sporting activities.

Our thriving Sixth Form greatly enhances the character of the school. The high staying-on rate from Year 11 to Year 12 is a testament to the very positive relationships which are established at St Aidan’s. Our Sixth Form students enjoy a challenging and enriching curriculum which enables the great majority to go on to further study, including obtaining places on highly competitive Oxbridge and Medical courses.

Admissions Process

Children born between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009 will be eligible to start secondary school in September 2020.

Children are no longer required to attend the closest secondary school to their home address. You can express up to 3 preferences for your child to be admitted into a secondary school of your choice. Our projected figures for September 2019 admissions shows there are places available to accommodate more children due to the lower birth rates in our traditional feeder primary schools and the fact that we have increased our capacity and therefore have increased the number of students we can admit. This means that there has never been a better time to apply to St Aidan’s.

If you would like to know more about the school or the application process, please contact Mrs Hogg for admission to Year 7 – 11 or St Anthony’s for admission to Sixth Form. Alternatively click on the link at the bottom of this page to view our admissions policy.

We have a small number of space in each year group.

Why should I consider an all boys’ school for my son?

·At St Aidan’s, we recognise that boys learn differently from girls. Boys have been found to develop greater peripheral awareness than girls and so can by liable to distraction! Our teachers understand how boys learn and plan lessons to engage boys which include physical activity, multi-media stimuli, and debate and discussion. Because we understand boys, we can help them achieve optimal results.

·Boys respond well to structure and hierarchy and respond well to the high expectations we have as regards their behaviour at school. Additionally, boys learn as readily from their peers as from their teachers.

·Boys mature later than girls do. Learning how to cope with and relate to girls on a daily basis in a coeducational setting can cause added stress in during the difficult teenage years. At an all boys’ school, students can get involved in all aspects of the curriculum and extra-curriculum, building their confidence without the social distractions inherent in a mixed setting.

·In a coeducational secondary school boys often shy away from the arts and are more involved in the more traditional science subjects. At St Aidan’s we see much more balance with English, History and Philosophy being among our most popular A level subjects. As a boys’ school we offer enhanced opportunities to take part in a wide variety of sports, in technology, computing and design as parents might expect, but our boys also are immersed fully in the arts – in music, art, and cookery. Boys’ schools can therefore offer a far more holistic approach.

·Not every boy can be a star athlete or footballer or measure up to Einstein! At St Aidan’s, we recognise that competition is healthy and to be encouraged but our boys also learn that the strong bonds of friendship, teamwork and social interaction are what matter most in later life. Many of our former students look back with great fondness to their time at St Aidan’s and give up their time to come and talk to the boys about the world of possibilities after school and their journey which started at St Aidan’s.

If I’m not a Catholic, why would I send my son to a Catholic school?

The Latin motto of St Aidan’s Catholic Academy is ‘Deus Lux nostra’ – God is our Light! It means that God will be with you, enlightening you with his wisdom. This also links closely with our Mission which is ‘We believe that God has created each person to celebrate life to the full”. This mission statement is based on John 10:10.

What are the benefits to our students of this mission?

Our three core values of Hard work, Trust and Fairness underpins out mission statement and are at the heart of everything we do. They motivate and inspire us to identify, value and maximise the talents of our students. Secondly, it helps to define us as a community. It makes us aware of the importance of faith and encourages us to value and appreciate the multi-faiths that are represented in our school and wider-community, as well as those families whom are of no faith. It inspires us to a universal welcome to our community whatever your faith.

In practice, as a faith school we have a tradition of prayer, reflection and collective worship which is integral to all that we do. We don’t impose our beliefs on others, rather we show how strong a community we are through our shared values.

So we will:

·Put the learning and progress of students first.

·Inspire them to be happy, healthy, confident, unique and tolerant individuals who flourish and achieve.

·Guide all to fulfil their potential spiritually, academically and socially.

·Promote their responsibility and resilience, diligence and determination, independence and enterprise.